A question of Why

Throughout the Gospels, we see an overview of the life of Jesus as He lived here on this Earth. According to the inspiration of God in John 21:25, the world in which we live cannot hold all the books about Jesus that could be written. As you and I study the life of the Perfect One, we often ask ourselves: “Why did He do that or why did He do it that way?”. In my opinion, it is questions like this that usher us into a deeper view of the Holy Writ. As we examine a passage today, we will ask WHY.

Why did Jesus wait? In John 11, Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, slipped into Eternity. However, when Jesus and His Disciples hear this news they stay where they are for four more days! Why? We cannot say why this was the case because we are not told by God. However, it was the ancient idea that the soul of a person stayed close to that person’s body for 3 days after separation. It could have been the fact that Jesus understood this false idea, and waited until all who saw would be forced to see this miracle.

Why did the sisters blame Jesus? I do not think that Mary and Martha blamed Jesus for the death of their brother Lazarus. The passing of our loved one is an emotional time for us all. We still cannot remove the fact that they both said to Jesus: “If you had been here, our brother would not have died.” This statement is just wrong! People die, now and then. Interestingly, Jesus did not bite back at those sisters. We can see His compassion toward a sorrowful family and now this family will have a front-row seat for His glory.

Why did Jesus weep? If you and I were to ask 1,000 people why Jesus cried, then we would probably get 1,000 reasons. Many would contend that Jesus was just overwhelmed with emotion- and that could be true. Some would say His crying was due to coming face to face with the nature of physical death- as if Jesus being God did not already know that. Personally, I think Jesus wept due to the fact that He knew where Lazarus was, eternally speaking, and where Lazarus had to come back into. As a faithful child of God, Lazarus was in Paradise. But with three simple words from the mouth of Jesus, Lazarus was taken from Paradise and placed back into the World of temptation and trials.

As you and I read and study, may God bless us with the time to explore the question why.